


Reach Out a Hand

by Luna_Myth



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Best Friends, Canon Compliant, Conversations, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Gen, POV Third Person, POV Third Person Limited, Panic Attacks, Past Tense, Pink Diamond Theory, Popcorn, Realization, Working Out My Feelings Through Fic, maybe?? hopefully??, movie date, post episode
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-28
Updated: 2018-06-28
Packaged: 2019-05-29 17:41:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15078299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Luna_Myth/pseuds/Luna_Myth
Summary: “That’s it—I’m out,” Steven said. He pushed himself up off the floor and started walking towards the door. “I’m done with this today. I’ll see you all later. I love you. Bye.”“S-Steven, wait…” Pearl’s voice echoed behind him, but he was already out the door.Directly following A Single Pale Rose. Steven leaves and calls a friend.





	Reach Out a Hand

**Author's Note:**

> i had to post this before the july second update josses it but i'm afraid it's already too late thanks to leaks. oh well.

                “That’s it—I’m out,” Steven said. He pushed himself up off the floor and started walking towards the door. “I’m done with this today. I’ll see you all later. I love you. Bye.”

                “S-Steven, wait…” Pearl’s voice echoed behind him, but he was already out the door. He heard his feet hitting the wooden deck and then the softer sound of his shoes on dirt path, but he didn’t know where he was going until he arrived at an abandoned stretch of the beach. The sea stretched on forever today, its waves crashing violently and the sky above a muted cloudy gray.

                Steven kicked a pebble in the sand and dug his phone out of his pocket. It rang several times before he heard someone pick up. “Hello? Connie?”

                “Steven!” He could hear the smile in her voice and it almost made him forget what just happened. “Yeah, I’m here. What’s up?”

                “Do you want to go to the movies with me?” he blurted out. “Lonely Blade 3 is playing, and I can buy snacks.”

                “Y-yeah, sure,” Connie said. He heard her shifting the phone on the other end. “Is everything okay, Steven? You seem kind of distracted.”

                “F-fine!” He took a deep breath and let it out. “Can you meet me at the theatre in half an hour or should I pick you up on Lion?”

                Silence for a moment, and then—“You should probably just pick me up. I’ll leave a message for my mom.”

                Steven let out a sigh of relief. “G-great! Thanks, Connie. Be right there!”

                He hung up. The roar of the ocean waves returned. Steven put his phone back in his pocket and started off down the beach, cupping his hands around his mouth. “Lion! Lion! …Lion? Lion!”

                After a couple minutes of searching, a fuzzy pink mane materialized. Steven sighed, a grimace crossing his face as he walked over. “There you are, Lion. I need you to take me to Connie. Can you do that?”

                Lion shook his mane and knelt for Steven to get on his back, uncharacteristically obedient for once. There was a brilliant flash of light, and Lion and Steven disappeared from the beach, leaving only the crashing of the waves.

                The warp emptied out in front of Connie’s house and Steven slid off of Lion’s back without looking. “Thanks,” he said. “Now stay here while I get Connie.”

                He went up to the front door and knocked, his face set with determination. Connie answered right away.

                “Good, you’re here!” she said, throwing her arms around him. Steven hugged her back, feeling his stern expression dissolve into a grin. Things were back to how they always were between them. He felt right for the first time all day. This was how things were supposed to be.

                “You sounded kind of upset on the phone, so I was worried,” she told him, drawing back to a reasonable distance. Steven felt a pang and had to stop his hand from following after her.

                “Y-yeah, it’s been kind of a rough day, but I’ll tell you about it later,” he said, slipping his hands into his pockets. Then he pulled them back out again. “Shall we?”

                Steven took a step back and dipped into an extravagant bow, extending one hand as if to take Connie’s. She giggled, immediately getting what he was getting at, and placed her hand in his. He kissed it, every bit the elegant knight, before spinning around and tucking her hand against his arm, ready to escort her to their waiting carriage—or Lion.

                “My Lord,” Connie said, smiling and attempting a curtsey without a skirt. Steven cracked another smile.

                “My Lady,” he said, somewhat lovestruck and beaming. He escorted her over to Lion, even though it wasn’t very far, and both of them laughed again. Steven jumped on Lion first and pulled Connie up after him.

                “Okay, let’s go!” he said, grabbing Lion’s mane with one hand and Connie’s hand with the other. He nudged Lion’s sides with his feet like he was riding a horse and, tossing his head, Lion leapt into the warp.

                They landed outside the movies first try, and Steven noted that at least that had improved since the first time he’d tried to take Connie to the movies on Lion. That was over a year ago now, but if he tried really hard, he could imagine nothing had changed except for the better. Then his concentration faltered and he remembered all the ways his world had changed and shifted and twisted like the most violent rollercoaster he’d ever been on. Growing up couldn’t be like this for everyone, he thought. It shouldn’t.

                “Steven, we’re here.” Connie shook his arm. She had dismounted while he wasn’t paying attention. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

                Steven slid down off of Lion. “Y-yeah, I’m fine. Um, do you wanna…hold my hand?” He offered it out to her and wiggled his fingers. She smiled at him, probably despite her better judgement. He knew Connie and she was very smart—she had to have figured out something was wrong. But he didn’t want to talk about it right now and he silently begged her to go along with him.

                “Yeah, sure,” she said, taking his hand. Her touch felt warm and calloused and just like all the other times he had held her hand, but this time he got to hold it as long as he wanted. The pads of her fingers were tough and strong, and her grip was comfortable and firm. She had the hands of a sword fighter—he wondered what his hands felt like to her. What were the hands of someone who primarily used a shield like? It wasn’t as if he’d picked the shield anyway. It was just what he’d inherited from—

                Steven squeezed Connie’s hand tighter and forced a laugh. “So what snacks do you want?” he asked. “We have some time before the movie, and I got enough money from my dad for anything you want.”

                Connie looked thoughtful as she contemplated her snack choices. This was something he adored about her, he realized as he stood there patiently holding her hand. How she put just as much thought into little things like snacks as she did into big things like sword-fighting and relationships. She was amazing like that.

                “I think I’ll have the chocolate covered raisins and the marshmallow bar. It is a special occasion after all,” she said, glancing at Steven. “What about you?”

                “Those sound good,” he said easily. “I’ll just get those and some popcorn. Oh, and some jelly beans.” He dug around in his pocket with his free hand until he found the money and then went up to pay. A few minutes later they stood off to the side of the counter, heavily-laden with snacks and tickets and unfortunately no longer holding hands.

                “Do you wanna go into the movie now so we can sit down?” Steven asked. He was afraid he was going to drop the popcorn if he couldn’t set it down somewhere soon. He didn’t doubt his own strength, but he wasn’t cut out for carrying this many things and actually keeping hold of them.

                “Yeah, let’s go,” Connie agreed. They made their way into the theatre. It was still dark with no previews or commercials playing yet, and they were the only people inside. The movie wasn’t supposed to start for another fifteen minutes, and it had been out for a while without Steven having a chance to see it. The theatre was quiet, and they were alone.

                “Cool—now we can get the best seats,” Steven said, turning to Connie. “Uh, where do you think those are?”

                “I heard that the best seats are around the middle and about two thirds up. That’s where the producers and sound technicians sit when they watch the movie,” Connie said. She smiled at him and tilted her head. “Come on, I’ll show you.”

                She led the way, careful not to drop anything, and Steven did his best to follow after her, breathing a sigh of relief when they finally reached their seats.

                “Thanks for coming with me, Connie,” Steven said once they were seated. “I-I know it was kind of late notice.”

                “It’s no problem, Steven,” she said. “Now are you going to tell me what’s wrong or am I going to have to withhold your jelly beans from you?”

                “Aw man, not my jelly beans,” he complained. Steven sighed and bowed his head. He felt sick, his stomach tight and head pounding, when he thought about what he’d learned. He didn’t want to think about the Gem embedded in his belly button. He didn’t want to think about his mom. He didn’t want to think about destiny, or war, or what was happening in space right now, or even on Earth. He just wanted to think about Connie, and Lonely Blade, and jelly beans. Normal stuff. Fun stuff. Maybe teenage stuff? Even that sounded nicer than what he was currently thinking about.

                “I really just wanted to have a nice time with you and forget about everything, Connie,” he admitted. “But I guess that’s not fair to you. I, uh, well…I just found out—well, it’s a Gem thing, but—but more of a me thing? It’s really weird and crazy and I don’t know how to feel about it and I didn’t want to think about it, but you deserve to know! And, uh, it’s…”

                Steven told her the whole story, starting from Pearl losing her phone.  When he was done, his hands were clenched into fists and his nails were biting into his palms. Connie looked stricken.

                “Your mother was—?” She looked afraid to say it out loud. Steven sort of agreed.

                “Y-yeah, I saw a vision of it,” he said, his voice shaking. The movie still hadn’t started and the theatre was dim. If Connie hadn’t been there, he would’ve felt scared. Not just because of the darkness, but because of the way his world shook with each new thought that occurred to him. The worst of which was— _the Gem embedded in his stomach was a Pink Diamond._ That couldn’t be right, his panicked mind tried to tell him, but the tense feeling in his gut said otherwise. He clenched his fists so hard he was certain he was going to draw blood. Connie was looking at him in concern.

                “Steven…” she said, setting their popcorn on the floor. She grabbed one of his hands with both of hers. He automatically relaxed it, but the rest of his body remained stiff as a board. “Steven, breathe. Just breathe, okay? Look at me.”

                He looked at her, his eyes pleading. Connie’s concerned gaze met him, her hands squeezing his, attempting to soothe him. Steven took a shuddering breath and nodded, grateful. Connie’s gaze turned relieved. In the darkness, she felt very close to him.

                “T-thanks,” he stuttered. “M-my p-palms thank y-you.”

                “Yeah, you should hold onto something else until you feel better,” she told him. She gently uncurled his other hand, still keeping a steady hold of his first. “I don’t have a stress ball on me, but here. This should do.”

                She held both his hands, helping him breathe quietly in the dark. Steven felt some of his tension leave until it was possible to think again and not seize with panic. He took a deep breath and squeezed Connie’s hands back. Her smile was brief, but brilliant.

                “So,” she said once he felt somewhat stable. “What are you feeling?”

                “Um.” Steven closed his eyes for a second before opening them again, trying to focus on what his feelings were and not how he was feeling them. “C-confused? And kind of, um, scared? And like, angry, but also sad? I-I didn’t know you could feel so many emotions at once. I-It’s probably happened before, now that I think about it, but I’ve never tried to name them all. Is that weird? Oh! Is weird an emotion? B-because I think I feel that too.” Steven clamped his mouth shut and averted his eyes. Then he looked back at Connie. “Um, what are you feeling?”

                “Shocked,” she said practically. Her eyes trained on the ceiling, lost in thought. “Worried about you, mostly. Angry on your behalf, for being lied to, even if there wasn’t anything Pearl could do to tell you.” She hesitated, then leaned forward, catching his gaze again. Her eyes were really pretty, Steven decided, heat rising to his cheeks.

                “I’m really glad you told me,” she said, pressing his hands into the cushion of his seat by virtue of her position. “That was really brave of you.”

                Steven gave a weak chuckle. “I don’t think I feel brave. But uh, I think I feel less scared now. Thanks, Connie.”

                “Oh!” she said, letting go of his hands and retreating back into her seat. “No problem, Steven. I don’t know if I really _did_ anything. I just wanted to help. And I still want to see a movie with you if you’re up for it.”

                “Y-yeah, I still wanna,” he said, blinking rapidly. He kind of felt like he’d just woken up from a nightmare he could barely remember, and he rubbed his eyes accordingly. “Plus, we bought all this popcorn, and it’d be a shame not to eat it. Um, one question, though—why’d you let go of my hands like that?” She’d seemed so startled and surprised as she let go, almost embarrassed.

                “I-I thought you didn’t need it anymore,” she said, definitely flustered, which wasn’t a very common fit for Connie. “Was I…wrong?”

                Steven grabbed one tub of popcorn and put it on his lap with his left hand. Then he reached out his right hand in the air toward Connie—an offer. “I like holding hands with you. And look, the movie’s about to start!”

                The lights were on in the projector booth and the movie screen was glowing. Connie took Steven’s hand and smiled.

                “I guess we only need one hand for snacks anyway,” she said, picking out a piece of popcorn. She put it in her mouth, seemingly quite pleased at the turn of events. “I hope this movie’s good. I didn’t think the sequel was as faithful as the first one.”

                “It was still nice, though,” Steven said, pausing a handful of popcorn in front of his mouth. “Hey, can I have my jelly beans now?”

                “Oh, yeah, of course,” Connie said, pulling the box from her pocket. “Sorry, I forgot—oh, it’s starting. I’ll—“

                She was cut off by a loud blast of noise from a trailer for the new Dog-copter.

                “What?” Steven tried to say, but she just shook her head and handed him the jelly beans, smiling. He nodded and squeezed her hand, silently agreeing. He was fine with not talking until after the movie. Soon he was riveted by the plot of Lonely Blade 3, which remained remarkably faithful to the source material except for one pivotal scene near the end. Steven offered Connie a handful of jelly beans in consolation, and she accepted them solemnly, restraining a laugh. They kept holding hands for the length of the movie, and by the time they left to go home, Steven felt like himself again.


End file.
